Are we ready for weed in the mall?
Cannabis at the Westfield Center in San Francisco
There is a cannabis showroom in the Westfield Center. (Yes, a mall like the Fast Times at Ridgemont High!) It's not a pharmacy. There is no cannabis in the shop itself, just displays and promotional material.
The store is called Joy Reserve and it opened on November 14th on the second floor of the mall, right between Bloomingdales and J. Crew. It's a bright, welcoming store and inside there are shelves full of cannabis brands from the Bay Area and beyond. I discovered products from Green Bee Botanicals, Clarified, Kiva, Kings Garden, Protabs, Canndescent, Kinslips, Potli, Cann, A Golden State and a few more.
Several avid staff (don't call them Budtender!) Answered all of my questions about the products, and there were several demo stations highlighting specific companies.
For each exhibition there was advertising material, stickers and a card with price information and a QR code. If you are interested in one of the products at Joy Reserve, you can scan the corresponding code and order it from a delivery service that will pick you up in a safe place outside the mall.
I spoke to owner Vivian Vu who lives in San Francisco and she said the point of the store is to provide cannabis education to those who may be too intimidated to ever step into a pharmacy.
"As a 'showroom' rather than a 'pharmacy', we want to make cannabis accessible to all segments of the population by providing an interactive and educational experience," she said.
As with so many weed entrepreneurs, she was inspired to get into the business after her mother got sick and cannabis was the only thing that could relieve the pain. When I stopped by, her wheelchair-bound mother was of course in the store helping her daughter.
Indeed, Joy Reserve had a strong sense of family, in part due to the local cannabis companies putting up their displays, mingling, and chatting. Everyone seemed very excited about this new venture. It was a nice throwback to the days when I went to a cannabis party, met people, and tried new things. (Of course, none of the samples at Joy Reserve are medicated.)
There was such a familiar atmosphere that I could well imagine a family going to the mall, visiting all their favorite shops, eating their giant cinnabons, and voilà, the adults (ID that proves you're 21+) Required at Joy Reserve, of course) can walk into a pot showroom, learn about cannabis - and maybe run away with a sleeper pad or pre-roll. I imagined that I could see and hear them fooling around in the entrance area and challenging each other to go to the weed shop.
It all sounds like Jeff Spicoli's dream come true: weed in the mall. One of the store employees told me that he got his first job at a Spencer's Gifts mall and that he was selling weed outside during his shifts. "Somehow I feel like I'm coming full circle," he joked.
But is it legal? Given that many people have put so much time, money, and effort into getting the right license to open a pharmacy from the state and city, then it's okay to just open a fancy mall showroom, that is connected to a delivery service?
"There are no live products in our showroom and we only work with licensed companies to enable them to be sold outdoors in a safe and legal manner," Vu replied when I asked her about the legal status of the project. "As a marketing agency, we operate entirely within the guidelines of the Department of Cannabis Control and San Francisco.
"Westfield has been very supportive of us and given us a lot of opportunities to promote not only ourselves but the brands we carry," she continued.
Westfield isn't the only mall that welcomes grass into its walls. Retailers are trying to fill the vacant space after Covid, and cannabis-specific retail space is even opening. Hopefully this will start a discussion that will benefit all of us.
When cannabis became legal in California, I envisioned a stoner mall called Weed World where you could put your stuff in a locker, get drunk, and then shop, eat, go to the movies, and play - all while being stoned and safe. Joy Reserve could be a small step towards that vision.
Don't get me wrong - I support all of the great people who are working tirelessly to open their pharmacy. It is difficult and time consuming work. But does it really have to be that difficult?
It seems like Joy Reserve is trying to streamline the process. In all honesty, I'm glad there is someone out there who is shifting the norms and questioning our ideas of what the modern cannabis lifestyle is like.
I've seen so many great, local companies fall victim to government regulations. People dotted every "i" and crossed every "t" to make sure they were doing everything right - only to lose it all.
And now an upstart like Joy Reserve comes along and brings the sale of weed as a gift wrapped and neatly wrapped to the mall.
"Black Friday was great," says Vu. "There were a lot of good visitors, a lot of people who were tired of being home for the past two years. The most popular items are edibles, beverages, and pre-roll packs.
I'm curious to see what people have to say and how it will go.
And hey, you don't have to stop by Spencer this time to get high before the movie.
Now is the time to light up!